La Celestina (1996)

The young nobleman Calisto falls in love with Melibea, the daughter of a rich merchant. Calisto's servant Sempronio suggests they get the sorceress Celestina to further the romance. However... See full summary »

Director:

Gerardo Vera

Writers:

Fernando de Rojas (novel), Rafael Azcona (adaptation),

Stars:

Penélope Cruz, Terele Pávez, Juan Diego Botto

4 wins & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Penélope Cruz	...	Melibea (as Penelope Cruz)
Terele Pávez	...	Celestina (as Terele Pavez)
Juan Diego Botto	...	Calisto
Maribel Verdú	...	Areusa (as Maribel Verdu)
Jordi Mollà	...	Pármeno (as Jordi Molla)
Nancho Novo	...	Sempronio
Nathalie Seseña	...	Lucrecia
Carlos Fuentes	...	Sosia
Candela Peña	...	Elicia
Anna Lizaran	...	Alisa (as Ana Lizaran)
Sergio Villanueva	...	Tristán
Ángel de Andrés López	...	Centurio (as Angel de Andres Lopez)
Lluís Homar	...	Pleberio (as Lluis Homar)
Ana Risueño	...	Poncia
Rodrigo García	...	Crito (as Rodrigo Garcia)

Storyline

The young nobleman Calisto falls in love with Melibea, the daughter of a rich merchant. Calisto's servant Sempronio suggests they get the sorceress Celestina to further the romance. However Calisto's other servant Parmeno is suspicious of Celestina, as he knows about her tricks. After Celestina convinces Melibea of Calisto's love and arranges a brief clandestine meeting between them, Calisto gives Celestina a valuable chain of gold. Both servants are not satisfied with the whores supplied by Celestina and demand more from her, thus setting off a dramatic sequence of events.

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Plot Keywords:

sex | male nudity | nobility | lesbian subtext | bare breasts | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Spain

Language:

Spanish

Release Date:

8 November 1996 (Spain)

Filming Locations:

Cáceres, Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain

Box Office

Budget:

ESP 250,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lolafilms, Sociedad General de Televisión (Sogetel), Canal+ España

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Carmen Maura was the first choice for the title role of Celestina

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Connections

Version of La Celestina (1983)

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Soundtracks

"Diferencias sobre 'Guárdame las vacas'"
By Luis de Narváez
Arrangements by Octavio Bustos Abarca
Performed by Narciso Yepes
Permission by PolyGram Ibérica

User Reviews

A Boring Fairy Tale With Some Exciting Sex Scenes

'La Celestina' is based on Fernando de Rojas 1499 novel but this translation on screen is truly dull. 'La Celestina' looks good. The costumes and sets look radiant. The score is pleasant to the ears until it gets too repetitive and intrusive. The screenplay is poor especially the awful dialogues. 'La Celestina' is more a soap opera than a movie. Perhaps the director was confused about whether he was making a movie or a 'telenovella'. The dialogue delivery is laughably bad. The soliloquys are most annoying. The acting is overtly theatrical. With actors like Jordi Molla and Penelope Cruz, one would have expected better. Maribel Verdu is the only one who turns in a decent performance. For a fairy tale, 'La Celestina' has a lot of sex which are tastefully shot. Anyway, the film doesn't otherwise live up to expectation. Yawn.